American Go E-Journal » U.S. Pro Tournament

NOTE: Myungwan Kim 9P is doing live daily game commentaries at 10:30a and 5:30p EST(note updated times!)on theTygemGo Korea1 Server; some games are alsobeing broadcast on KGS. For latest standings and game records,click hereand scroll down to Results.

Here are the full results of Tuesday’s games from the AGA-TYGEMGO Pro Finals. The name in ALL CAPS is the winner (color played, next match).

NOTE: Myungwan Kim 9P is doing live game commentaries at 10:30a and 5:30p EST (note updated times!) on the TygemGo Korea1 Server each day; some games are also being broadcast on KGS. For latest standings and game records, click here and scroll down to Results.

Here are the full results of Monday’s games from the AGA-TYGEMGO Pro Finals being held in Black Mountain, NC. The name in ALL CAPS is the winner (color played, next match).

Broadcast of the AGA-Tygem Pro Finals continues today, on both Tygem and, as of today, selected games on KGS as well. Myung-wan Kim 9P will provide live commentary starting at 10:30AM and 5:30PM (EST), an hour and a half after the games game start.

Here are the results from the first two rounds on Sunday; the winner is indicated by all caps, the number is their seed position, followed by color played:

Players have arrived at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain NC for the first AGA-TygemGo Pro Finals. Play starts Sunday morning with two rounds a day starting at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET. The plan is to broadcast four games in each round live in the AGA room on Tygem and then post game records of all the games, along with photos and the current tournament chart, each evening.

Iyama Yuta 9P won his first Honinbo title on July 19. Iyama bested the defending title holder Yamashita Keigo 9P, 4-3 in the title match series. Go fans who’d been anticipating the game were not disappointed. The pair produced an exciting and highly unusual game that kept observers on the edge of their seats, providing serious competition for the Tour de France. A series of kos in the early middle game resulted in a division where white (Iyama) took over 70 points of solid territory and black took thickness across the remainder of the board. White went on to win by 7.5 points after some impressive shinogi (fending off black’s severe attacks). This year is also the 400th anniversary of the formation of the Honinbo house, making the tournament even more special than usual.David Ormerod; based on his original article Iyama Yuta becomes Honinbo at Go Game Guru. An Younggil 8P has commented game 5 and game 7 of the Honinbo title match. Photo: Yamashita Keigo 9P (left) and Iyama Yuta 9P prepare to play the final game.

The winners in the recent AGA-Tygem Online Pro Prelim were Soo-il Kim, Matthew Burrall, Eric Lui, Daniel Chou, Bill Lin, Will Gan and Juyong Koh. With the final qualifier over, invitations have now been sent out for the first AGA-TygemGo Pro Qualification Tournament, which will be held the week prior to the upcoming U.S. Go Congress. In addition to the Online Prelim winners, Cotsen winners Calvin Sun and Curtis Tang, Maryland Open winner Andy Liu and Seattle prelim winner Edward Kim have also been invited to compete in the Final. The Canadian Go Association selected Gansheng Shi and Jing Yang to receive invitations and the AGA picked Jie Li, ZhaoNian Chen and Danny Ko from its active high-ranked players. Curtis Tang, Calvin Sun, Gansheng Shi, Bill Lin and Jing Yang have already indicated they will play; stay tuned for updates.

The field in the TygemGo Online Pro Prelim has been narrowed down to the final 21 players, six of whom are Canadians. The tournament’s last round will be this weekend, with the last seven players qualifying to go to North Carolina in late July for the ‘face to face’ final rounds with the other nine finalists. The top two winners in North Carolina will be the first American-certified pros. Myung-wan Kim 9P will provide live commentary on Tygem on Saturday and Sunday starting at 12:30p EST at Korea1 server. “I think observers will see very interesting games in this final round since the competition is getting tougher,” Kim tells the E-Journal. “I really enjoy the interactive live commentary with observers. If you come to my commentary, be sure to vote for the next move. It’s not only fun but also the better way to learn from my commentary. And of course, questions are always welcome.”

Myung-wan Kim 9P (r) will provide live video and audio commentary Saturday on the AGA-Tygem Pro Online Prelim game between ‘regular456’ 9-dan and ‘CptJack’ 5-dan.The live commentary will be in Tygem’s World room starting at 12:30P (EST). “The live commentary feature is one of the favorite things Korean go players love in Tygemgo and I think US go players will also enjoy it,” Myung-wan Kim tells the E-Journal. “Regular456 seems to be much stronger than CptJack but observers will still enjoy the game, especially as regular456 is a somewhat famous and serious go player in the US who wants to be a pro.”photo: Myung-wan Kim doing online game commentary at the 2012 Cotsen AGA-Tygem Go Pro Prelim; photo by Chris Garlock

If you didn’t sign up by Sunday’s deadline for the AGA-TygemGo Online Pro Prelim, there’s still time to participate in this historic tournament, joining over 100 who have already signed up. The registration deadline has been extended until midnight (EST) on Tuesday, June 5. “I’m playing in the AGA-Tygem tournament so that I can say, ‘I tried to become a US Go professional'” says Devin Flake 11k, a Systems Administrator in Orem, UT. Monsoon Shrestha 18k, a student in Elmhurst, NY, signed up “To be part of history,” while Peter Freedman 2D, a retiree in Portland, OR, wants to “Support the new ground-breaking American pro system.” Sign up and click here to let us know why you’re playing. “This tournament is meant to include as many players as possible, regardless of rank,” says AGA chair Andy Okun. “Though it’s just a dream for most of us, contending for pro will be a moment of pride for all of us,” he added. Every player who participates will receive a high-quality enamel “Go for Pro” pin. The tournament will be played on Saturdays and Sundays starting June 9. The online tournament gives both WMSG and NMT points. For further details, click here or email Okun at sponsorship@usgo.org or TD Yixian Zhou at missbear@gmail.com.